Monday, July 12, 2010

Some News for Mon Jul 12, 2010

So Spain are our 2010 World Cup Champions. No surprise really as they were the odds on favorite to win it all. Huge congrats to them!

dN

The New York Red Bulls will introduce Thierry Henry as their next Designated Player on Thursday. Hooray Beer!

WORLD CUP WRAP UP

Simon Kuper and Richard Lapper of the Financial Times sit down with 5 South Africans to get their opinions on the impact of the World Cup on their country. Long and worth it.-I went to the game at Soccer City [Mexico-South Africa, the tournament’s opening match] and I realised as a country we’d come pretty far. Because a little over 16 years ago, I’d been to that stadium on two occasions. The first was when Mandela was released [in 1990] and the other was when Chris Hani [the Communist Party leader] had been assassinated [in 1993]. We sat in that awful stadium – it hadn’t been rebuilt – I was sitting right on top to catch a view of the crowd, and it really felt as if we were teetering. Our country didn’t know where it was going to. It felt as if we were on the edge of a civil war. Sixteen years later, it was a beautiful experience to be there. The game was great, but also the look of that stadium, the symbolism of it.

Could Toronto FC goalkeeper Sebastian Stefan Frei be eligible for the USA? If so, we need to sign him up ASAP. I think he is going to be better than Guzan, and could be the successor to Tim Howard. (Thanks to everyone who corrected me on his name. I had a feeling it was wrong, but I was too lazy to double check. And of course Sebastian Frey is the Fiorentina keeper).

Chivas USA has officially signed forward Giancarlo Maldonado from Atlante in Mexico, where he scored 32 goals in 77 games (he spent last season on loan to Xerez in Spain), and has brought back defensive midfielder Paulo Nagamura who spent last season with ? in Mexico.-Maldonado is the Venezuelan national team's all-time leading goal scorer with 19 goals.

Toronto FC is looking for firepower up top so they signed a guy who has scored 5 goals in the last 5 years! (Only playing in 61 games in all that time.) He is Spanish forward Mista, that's Mr. Mista to you bub, from Deportivo La Coruna.

dN

Toronto then signed Maicon Santos who had just been released by Chivas USA.

Bruce Arena of the LA Galaxy will be the coach of the MLS All Star team when they take on Manchester United on Wed Jul 28 in Houston TX at Reliant Stadium.

dN

The LA Galaxy friendly v Inter Milan has been canceled, but in its place the Galaxy will now take on head coach Jose Mourinho's new team Real Madrid.-Los Angeles Galaxy v Real Madrid - Sat Aug 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena CA

dN

The MLS All-Star First XI will be announced on Tuesday.-They take on Manchester United in Houston on Wed Jul 28.

dN

It was very impressive last weekend to see New England stick it to LA.-I bet the Revs were very happy when they heard that Landon Donovan had not gotten on the teams plane from LA, although they will never admit it.

dN

And New England had great attendance last weekend going over 20,000 for the first time in who knows how long. But Philadelphia's 2nd game at the new stadium is NOT sold out. This is terrible. Small number in Houston too.

Chicago is on the verge of signing Serbian midfielder Bratislav Ristic from FK Rad of Belgrade.

dN

And who is this 3rd Designated Player that New York are chasing. We know its not Michael Ballack as he turned them down to return to Bayer Leverkusen.-Could it be that majorly heinous hack Rafa Marquez?

NORWAY - Eliteserien - 16 games played in 16 team league.Steve Clark - Honefoss - dressed but did not see the field as the team drew 2-2 at home against Tromso, and sit in 14th place.Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - went the distance as they lost 2-3 at home to Viking. They are in 7th place.Hunter Freeman - Start - went the full 90 and won 1-2 on the road at Sandefjord, and are in 9th place now.Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance, scored their first goal and won 1-2 on the road at Sandefjord, and are in 9th place now.Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - dressed but did not see the field as the team drew 2-2 at home against Tromso, and sit in 14th place.

5 Comments:

I don't think Frei is currently eligible for the USA; but he might be soon. He was asked about this his rookie year, and he said that if Switzerland called he'd be there in a second. If he became eligible for the USA, and the USA called ,then he'd think about it. But it seemed to me that his heart is in the Alps...

Bruce, I'm a little late on this but the attendance in Houston was even worse than you think. They claim 13,500 or so but in reality I would peg the attendance somewhere between 8 and 9 thousand. It was eerily quiet. Fortunately, the missing fans weren't actually missing anything, as this was the worst game I've ever watched in person.